Nikon Re-reviews 1st-Place Microscopy Video as AI Watermark Fuels Cheating Claims
Updated
Updated · Gizmodo · Oct 2
Nikon Re-reviews 1st-Place Microscopy Video as AI Watermark Fuels Cheating Claims
2 articles · Updated · Gizmodo · Oct 2
Summary
Nikon said it is re-reviewing Dr Ning Xu’s Small World in Motion winner after scientists challenged whether the microscopy video was authentic.
Google Gemini reportedly detected an invisible SynthID watermark in the clip, while critics also flagged structures that appear and disappear and cilia whose size seems inconsistent with known biology.
Xu, an optical engineering researcher at the National University of Singapore, said AI was used only in post-processing to color reconstructed grayscale data, not to generate the underlying imagery.
The contest bars AI-generated videos, and scientists say the dispute could be settled if Xu releases the RAW grayscale footage; his LinkedIn comments are no longer visible and his profile appears deleted.